LIVIN OUR CRAZY LIFE
THE IMPORTANCE OF GETTING RID OF DISTRACTIONS & SETTING YOUR PRIORTIES STRAIGHT
- Hey guys, welcome back to another week of "Living at Chris Life" podcast, I'm Olivia. - I'm Megan and today we're gonna talk about distractions and getting your priorities straight. People distract themselves in a lot of different ways and it can be for a lot of different reasons. I think that probably one of the main reasons is because they're unhappy with their own life and they will do anything to get out of that situation, not necessarily physically but even mentally, when people turn to substance or having a partner or relying on anything to kind of get out of the situation. Their in is a good example of that. - Some people just use distractions as a way to build their time so that they don't have to work on their goals and put their priorities straight, but that's a big problem. So let's talk about how we're gonna set those priorities so we're gonna get them straight. Is that your priorities? Number one, you need to lay out what your priorities are. What do you want for yourself? Where do you wanna go? And then you have to do a lot of work into seeing how you actually get there. For us, we have really big dreams and goals and aspirations of where we wanna be. And for us to get there means a lot of hard work. We have to sit down and do a lot of stuff. When we'd rather be doing other things sometimes. - It takes time. Like for us, we used to travel and stuff, but we had to put that aside because we actually had to start focusing on our priorities. We have some where we wanna go and we have to work. - It doesn't mean that you have to give up everything. Like that doesn't mean you don't go and have fun and stuff, but it's also, you have to have like a balance, but you have to put almost like 80% of your time into your goals if you want them to happen. You do miss out on some things, but at the end of the day, you'll get there faster and where you wanna be. And that's important, I feel like. - Yeah, and a lot of people, they start doing something and then they kind of sit back and just expect things to work out for them or they don't need to put in that much work into it, but you need to be putting in the work every day. And yes, that means missing out on a lot of things or not getting to hang out with your friends or go out and have fun, but that's part of your sacrifice for getting to be where you wanna be. And going out when you have set goals is a distraction. It takes you away one step further back from where you wanna be. One of the biggest distractions is your phone, social media, everything encompassing that because it's fake. It's fake, it's not even real. That's the thing is that you take so much of your time just sitting here staring at a black screen and your time just passes by and that time could be spent working on yourself and where you wanna be, but instead you kinda have to distract yourself and numb yourself down because you just don't, you're not ready to give that 100% into where you wanna be. And I get that sometimes like you just need a day of doing nothing. I totally am on board with that. But when it's a continuous cycle and you rely on it and every time you get a free second, you're pulling out your phone. I think in general, social media is dumb. I think it can be good for businesses and promoting and marketing and stuff. And that's my- - I think it ruined people. I think it really did. - It totally did. - I think that people, everything on there has just made like standards weird and it's made people hateful and jealousy has just overcome everything. And I just think that without social media, we would live more of a peaceful life. But that's a different topic. - Yeah, we'll have a full episode dedicated to social media. But me personally, my social media account is strictly for business. It's a 100% business not for personal use. And I think that's also an important boundary for me because I would, if I had my own account, I would be sitting there and I would be distracted and I would be doing things that I don't wanna do and I would get upset at myself. But sometimes I do, like you could catch me scrolling on real sometimes. Like I get distracted. - That's not the problem. - I've seen it in people. They become too hard on themselves and it's actually a huge problem. But you need to have a balance. And if you're actually working for your goals, then you do have to set those expectations for yourself and follow through with it. Another big distraction is substance, alcohol, drugs, weed, all of that. I think a lot of people are in a cycle of using substance and they don't even willingly know that they are addicted or that it's distracting them from where they wanna be. It's distracting them from their goals, whether that be health or business or personal, whatever. And you just get lost. At the end of the day, you need to focus on whatever it is that you're striving for. It could be getting a job, it could be, I don't know if you wanna start going outside to walk, whatever it is, like whatever it is, you need to focus. And to be able to focus means cutting out a lot of things. That could be substance, that could be you go out too much, that could be, you start your iPad all day, that could be, and here dependent on other people, it can be your significant other, it could be anything really. I'm not saying you can't have any of those things, it's just that when it's taking over your whole entire existence means that you have no time left for yourself and you won't get anywhere. And maybe your life looks a little different for those couple of years or a few years, however long it takes you to reach your goals, maybe you miss out on a lot of things or you don't have a lot of people around you, but at the end of the day, once you hit your goals and you're living your dreams, and then when you hit those goals, you can start doing all those things. That's actually funny that you say, focus because my lock screen on my phone is a white background with just the word focus. And I have that there because I know that I get distracted, so if every time I pull up my phone and I see that word's focus and I take a second to think about it and I put my phone away, that works for me. So I think finding little ways to keep yourself on track to your goals and away from distractions works. Like if you know that a distraction for you is going out on the weekends when you wanna be working on something, then say no to your friends. Tell them I don't wanna go out or set yourself up so that you can go out, do your work before you go out, and then you can go and have fun. Megan and I have this thing where we let ourselves, I go and see her once a month, and that's when we get to have a fun weekend, and that's what we do. And because we're able to get our work done, and then-- - We do everything we need to do. - On that weekend, usually, if we have all our work done, those three days usually is like no work for ourselves. - We don't do any, because we know that we work extra hard in that month so that when we get together, we don't have to do any of that crap. We don't have to answer emails, we don't have to get on phone calls, we don't have to post things, we don't have to do anything, it's just her and I, and we get to go out and have fun, and that works for us. So exactly, finding ways to not get distracted, but then also a balance, because finding ways, so you can still do the things you wanna do, but put your work first. - Put your work first. - It's very easy to get distracted, so it's important that you almost have to switch your mindset, so that you are able to do your work first, and then go and have fun. - Exactly. - Because sometimes, we used to, at the beginning, we used to be like, no, we can do it later, and we'll push it aside, push it aside, but no. - Because also, the thing is, is that when you push it till later, that's still a headache for you to do, you still have to do it, you know you have to do it, you're just pushing it till later, and then that's on your conscience, you can't fully let loose, and if you distract yourself by doing other stuff that you don't wanna be doing, exactly, you're just pushing it through, then you feel like crap, and you don't wanna do it, and this, that, this, that, and then nothing happens. You don't get where you wanna be. So you need to have that knowledgement of knowing yourself, you have to know yourself. If you easily get distracted, take those away. Don't let yourself get distracted. If you know you have something important that you have to do, and somebody reaches out to you, or something, you need to be able to have that strength to say, no, I'm not available, or no, I'm not free. You can't always cave in on your goals, and push yourself to the side to make things work, because, again, you're taking one step further from where you wanna be, and that's a distraction. Sometimes you have to punish yourself, and be hard on yourself. And I don't mean like hard on yourself all the time, or like beat yourself up over every single thing, but sometimes you do have to set yourself to a certain standard, and get it going, 'cause enough is enough. - Yes, you have to be accountable for yourself. You can't always make excuses for yourself, and opt out of things just because they're hard. Life is hard, things are hard, and you have to work for where you wanna be. It's not an easy ride to get where you wanna be, and you have to know that, you do know that, and that's why you choose to distract yourself, and why you're doing all these things, because it's hard, it is hard, and it's easier to do nothing, or it's easier to breadcrumb your way. If you want to get where you wanna be, you wanna be successful, whatever success means for you, whatever your goals are, you have to push yourself, you have to be accountable, and you have to stop buying into your own stories. - And stop making excuses, and things are hard, but if it was simple, you wouldn't make it anywhere. - Exactly. - And you're not going to make it anything if it's simple. Life is not simple. You work hard, and you get what you want, or you don't do anything at all, and you don't know where you are. So make that choice for yourself. - How you can get yourself to where you wanna be is setting small goals. You don't necessarily have to put yourself to the farthest goal. Just start setting small goals, and little reminders, and working towards that goal. And like we said, maybe you do a little bit of work, and then you get to go out, or whatever it is for you that's fun for your life, you do your work, and then you get to do what you like. - I read this book called "Atomic Habits" a couple years ago, and it was actually, had some really interesting points. And one thing that sticks out to me that's related to this is setting reminders. So to build habits, which I think are really important for when you're trying to set goals, you have to stick with habits to get where you wanna be. But in order to do that, it's exactly setting reminders. So for example, if there's something you know you have to do, write it on a sticky note, and put it by your toothbrush, where you brush your teeth every morning, and then get that done. I just think the principle of actually physically having something written down where you know you're gonna be, and you know you're gonna see it, I think is also something that can be helpful if you're easily distracted, or you don't remember things, or you always push things to the side. I think having the physical thing there, where either if it's a list, and once you finish, you know, a step of your day, or once you finish a goal, you cross that off the list, I think that could be something that helps a planner, a people, a planner. We have planners. I need to be scheduled for the week. I like to have my week out, and I like to have it written down. Whatever it is, I mean everyone's different, right? Some people can keep it in my clean head. - I think it's good, though, to have it written down, so that you can go back to it, and you can keep yourself accountable. - Exactly. - And that's important. Ultimately, I think a large part of it comes down to how hard you're willing to work to be where you wanna be. I think that it's so easy to get distracted, like we've said multiple times, and you have to know yourself, and if you get easily distracted, do certain things. Look into certain things that work for you on how to not get distracted, whatever that might be. Again, for me, it's having a list. It's having my wallpaper. It's all these silly little things, but they keep me accountable. You're watching this, and you're not focused. It's time to lock in. Why? Because it's 2024, and it's time. This is ridiculous. It's actually almost 2025. If you have said that in 2023, oh, I have a whole year, no honey, you're done. You're yours up. You have five more months. It's actually crazy that we were looking at the calendar, and there's five months until the end of the year. That is not a lot of time. Time moves like this. We have set ourselves a lot of very firm goals, but this year, and we'll reach them. That's not a concern for either of us, but at state, we have to be so on track with ourselves. It's like five months. It's a different type of lifestyle, and you have to almost be ready to put yourself in that position, because it can be very exhausting and draining, and also it could feel like everybody around you is moving up in life while you're not, but in reality, you are. It just may look like you're not, and it takes time to build to be where you want to be. You have to trust yourself. If you are working every day towards your goals, then yes, it takes time. It takes a lot of time to grow and get yourself out there, and you just have to trust yourself, even when you don't see physical numbers, or you don't see whatever your goals are. You don't see yourself getting closer there. You're in a plateau, you have to keep going. That's the whole point, is the discipline to keep going even when things get hard, because yes, it is very, very hard to, it's annoying, and it's hard to always have to try your hardest and put so much effort into everything, especially if you don't see results, or whatever, it's hard, it's annoying, but you have to choose your heart. For me, I would rather be putting in all this extra work and doing all this and denying myself of these instant gratifications for later gratifications. You also have to stop wasting your time, and wasting your potential. Like we said, in a blink of an eye in the next years here, and you just keep getting older, and if you keep putting everything back and not focusing, you're never getting anywhere. Damn. Yeah, that's a hard truth. I think it's also important to network and talk to people that also have goals and things that they're working on, that they can be very different, but to get their perspective and kind of what works for them, so think that it's important to find people that inspire you, and that can be within anybody. When you meet someone that inspires you, it makes you want to work harder on yourself. Definitely. I know somebody who runs a business, and I like knowing that if I have questions about my business or things that I need help with, I'm able to reach out to him and ask for advice, or I can ask certain questions. I think that's really helpful. It's not a mentor. I just think having somebody in your circle that can guide you in certain directions, or just have a conversation about certain things is really helpful, and can give you, again, a new perspective on certain things that you may not have thought about. I think that that's really important, is networking and having people in your corner that are also working on themselves, and supportive of you, and want you to do well. It's also important who you surround yourself with, people that are also working hard at their goals, people that are focused, people that can help you be a better you, people that support you, people that take an interest in what you're doing, people that you can conversate with, or when you're having a bad day or feeling negative, someone that can talk to you and just very put a smile on your face, and people that can encourage you, 100%. - I think support systems are a huge thing, and we actually have a previous episode about that. Be really interesting, listen, if you are curious about that. So number one, cut the distractions out. Number two, focus. Number three, set your goals. Number four, keep a consistent. Consistency is key. That's actually another big thing. Consistency is very key in order to get to where you want to be. And then number seven, success comes your way. Yay. - As we come to a close on this episode, keep in mind that distractions are literally everywhere, and you can't not get distracted, that's just not realistic, that's not part of life. So honestly, it's just trying to stay consistent and do what you need to do to get where you want to be, and don't be too hard on yourself. Also, I think there's a little bonus topic on this, because that just creates a lot of negativity and stress and hate, and that doesn't, that stunts your growth also, that holds you back. - And speak positively to yourself. If you're always negative, you'll never see positive outcomes, and positivity is all around you. - Surround yourself with other people who are positive, and again, working towards their goals and stuff. Who will you hang out with? I used to get so annoyed when people would say this, but who you hang around with, your circle, it doesn't define you, it doesn't change necessarily who you are, but it doesn't affect you. - Your environment is very important. - Your environment does affect you, it's important. Even the way your circle talks and behaves, you just take note of that in your head some consciously, and not necessarily do you become them, but I do think that they do play a role in who you are, and why would you want to be around shitty negative people anyways, or people that have no goals and ambitions, and want to just lay up all the time, that's not necessarily what I would want to zero myself with, that means each their own, but. - Tell yourself that you can do it, and it's success time. - It's success time, you can do it. - It's success time. - You can do it, I believe in you. Me, Olivia believes in you, so. Me, Megan believes in you too, you'll be okay. You'll get there. Thank you guys for watching this week's episode, we hope you enjoyed it, we will see you next Wednesday. Have a great week, bye. - Bye, bye.
In this day and age where distractions are everywhere and trying to keep you from reaching your full potential we talk about staying on track with your goals through setting your priorities straight & not letting those distractions get to you.